State Dep't: U.S. 'Not Going to Partner With a Brutal Dictator' to Defeat Brutal ISIS
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By Susan Jones | June 3, 2015
cnsnews.com
US State Department spokesperson Marie Harf (AP File Photo)
(CNSNews.com) - "We're certainly not going to coordinate with a brutal dictator who's massacred so many of his own citizens," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters on Tuesday. "That's just an absurd proposition. That's certainly not going to happen."
She was talking about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"And -- look," Harf continued. "There's nothing ideological about standing up and saying Bashar al-Assad has no place in the future of Syria. And we are not going to partner with a brutal dictator like that to defeat a terrorist organization."
Harf spoke one day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Bloomberg TV that the U.S. should coordinate its anti-ISIS airstrikes with the Syrian regime:
"I said that it is absolutely clear to me it was a mistake, still is, not to coordinate the airstrikes with the activities of the Syrian Army. That's what we believe must be done. And that's what unfortunately our American colleagues cannot accept from ideological considerations," Lavrov said.
The Obama administration's "obsession with the personality of President Assad" is not helping the effort to defeat Islamic State terrorists, he added.
In fact, Lavrov accused the U.S. of putting "the fate of one person whom they hate" above the fight against terrorism. He pointed to Iraq and Libya: "Saddam Hussein was the one person after whom the United States went and they ruined the country." Same thing with Moammar Gaddafi in Libya, he added.
"And when our American colleagues say that he (Assad) is not -- he cannot be considered a legitimate partner, we always remind them that he was perfectly legitimate when we went to the Security Council to adopt a resolution on Syrian chemical weapons disarmament."
In response, Harf told reporters, "That's very different than coordinating with (Syria) on military action."
"Marie, you just said you're not going to coordinate with a brutal dictator," a reporter said. "The United States doesn't coordinate with brutal dictators? Is that -- that's not always been the policy, is that right?"
"I was answering a question about Syria. Do you have a specific question?" Harf responded.
"Well, you -- but -- well, you said it as a general principle," the reporter said. "So in this this specific instance, you're deciding that it's not worth--"
"So we're not going to work with Bashar al-Assad," Harf cut in.
"Right. What -- what makes Assad's crimes so heinous that it's not worth a de facto partnership if only to defeat ISIS?" the reporter asked.
Harf repeated, "He's used chemical weapons against his own people, which only a handful of people have done in modern world history. He had used barrel bombs against his own people. I mean, you've seen the photos coming out of places in Syria where he has brutalized his own people. I just -- I can't imagine how anyone could suggest that we -- just to -- to...defeat a terrorist organization, we would work with Bashar al-Assad."
The reporter followed up: "Well, 'just to defeat it.' That's a major undertaking, as you've made clear."
"Absolutely," Harf said, "and we don't need to work with Bashar al-Assad to do that."
"But the United States worked with Joseph Stalin to defeat Nazi Germany. I mean, these types of marriages of convenience happen all the time throughout history."
"I'm just not going to compare this to any other historical case," Harf said.
Harf also told reporters that the U.S. "recently had productive conversations with the Russians at various levels on the urgency to get to a genuine and sustainable political transition" in Syria.
"So we, again, have long said that we need to get to a political transition that's in line with the Geneva Communique, that there is no role in Syria's political future for Bashar al-Assad, and we will work with the Russians to see if they can pressure the regime to get back to the negotiating table in a serious way."
She noted that Russia previously was able to bring Syria into negotiations, but "obviously, those rounds did not end with what we needed to see."
Lavrov told Bloomberg, "It's not for the United States to decide" if Assad stays or goes -- it's up to the Syrian people. He criticized the Obama administration for refusing to engage in a political process as long as Assad is in power: "What is a bigger threat, the personality of the Syrian president or ISIL and the like?" Lavrov asked.
The State Department says it is investigating reports that the Assad regime is conducting airstrikes in support of ISIL, helping the terrorists as they advance on Aleppo and "aiding the extremists in their attacks on the Syrian population."
Harf on Monday accused Assad of "actively seeking to bolster" ISIL's position "for his own cynical reasons."
(Reuters reported on Tuesday that "Assad still believes the West will eventually rehabilitate him as a partner in the fight against Islamic State -- a shift that shows no sign of happening but which he thinks is inevitable given the risk of a full jihadist takeover.")
Lavrov told Bloomberg on Tuesday that Russia is "not against" what the U.S.-led coalition is trying to do in weakening "a very bad group of terrorists."
But, he added, "We would prefer to do this on a collective basis, on the basis of international law through the Security Council. Unfortunately, the Americans -- when they announced this crusade against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, they never came to the Security Council, they just announced the coalition.
"And they announced that the Iraqi government gave its consent to the airstrikes on its territory against the positions held by ISIL. They also announced that they would do the same in Syria without asking the Syrian government and without going to the Security Council."
Asked if the Islamic State could take control of Syria, Lavrov said, "If people continue to acquiesce with what is going on. And continue to acquiesce with those (the U.S.) who categorically refuse to start the political process."
President Obama ordered U.S.-led airstrikes on ISIS/ISIL a year ago, because "If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat...to the United States."
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